Mother Nature has taken the Inland Empire through highs and lows – literally – over the past week. But experts say while the unseasonably warm weather is expected to continue into next week, rain does not appear to be in the near-future plans.

Overnight showers that produced less than an inch of rain in the Inland Empire between Wednesday, Feb. 17, and Thursday will be followed by at least a week’s worth of warmth and sun.

The showers were brought on by a weak cold front that produced high winds and low temperatures, said National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Harrison. Thursday’s morning showers acted as the “last gasp” of the week’s rain, he said.

Norco reported getting the most rain in Riverside County between Wednesday and Thursday at .4 inches, according to the Weather Service. Beaumont got .36 inches, while Riverside, Perris and Moreno Valley received .2 inches of rain.

Cal State San Bernardino recorded more than half an inch of rain between about 2 p.m. Wednesday and the same time Thursday.

The wind, rain and cold were all temporary – though Harrison said they are normal for this time of year.

The San Diego-based meteorologist also dashed any remaining hopes of rain causing a temporary nix on the 55-hour shutdown of the 91 in Corona when he said the Inland Empire shouldn’t see rain until about a week after the closure.

In fact, the weekend’s weather is expected to be sunny and warm, the Weather Service reports.

Skiers who were expecting to hit the slopes over the weekend will have to make do with man-made snow, as Harrison says any measurable snow will likely have fallen above 8,000 feet.

“Expect very little snow in the way of anyone living up in that area,” he said.

Rainfall so far this year has paled in comparison to what experts had predicted the weather phenomenon known as El Niño would do in Southern California, though experts still maintain that heavy rain could fall this season.

Harrison said it was possible that the wet season would get wetter sometime between late February and April.

“It’s looking like March could be a wet month,” he said. “But after this system moves through, we don’t see any rain possibilities until maybe next Saturday.”

Anne Millerbernd is the breaking news reporter for the Press-Enterprise in Riverside. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2015. Before joining the P-E, Anne interned at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. When she's not tracking cops and firefighters in western Riverside County, Anne can be found staring longingly at pictures of dogs and making fancy graphics for the internet.

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